Reunions and dear friends

I find (and have noticed others comment on this, as well) that my closest, most precious friends are those with whom I can get together after an absence - weeks, years, even decades - and feel as if we're picking up right where we left off.

I don't really expect to have that experience this week.  There has just been too much of my own history in the intervening score-point-four years since we unexpectedly bumped into each other in Baltimore.  The dynamic of having our spouses there will make things very different, too.  I never spent much time with both T. and her then-boyfriend, save one autumn evening thirty three years ago, as his Academy schedule didn't permit a lot of socializing (which was practically my major at that point).  Teri never much knew either of them.  

I hope I'm pleasantly surprised, but I've learned that I should never expect that to happen, anyway, as the expectation can be the biggest thing that gets in the way.  The other thing is, it isn't just old friends who can feel like that every time you talk with them.  I've learned that close friendships, while rare and precious, appear where you least expect them, and it is important for me to tend them whether old or new so that they don't drift away over time and distance.

That gets especially important in those times when a good friend might have his or her own hands and life full.  I guess I count myself fortunate to have had a couple cases of that of late, because I wouldn't have that "problem" were I not truly blessed with incredibly good friends.  Still, it's important for me to not cross the line between friend and pest.